WI-CARH is accepting your nominations for the following awards:

 

Site Manager of the Year

 

Maintenance Person of the Year

 

Property of the Year

 

We are excited to present these awards and look forward to your nominations for deserving recipients. We welcome nominations from WI-CARH members, property management staff, residents and cooperating agencies (such as USDA-Rural Development, Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development, lenders, etc.).

 

Please see the nomination letter and form for all of the details. Nominations are due by October 3, 2016.

 

 

August 4, 2016: Yesterday, USDA released its long awaited report on investment needs for rural rental housing. The report, entitled The Comprehensive Property Assessment of the USDA Rural Development Multi-Family Housing Portfolio, outlines the costs to maintain and upgrade USDA's Rural Housing Service's (RHS) inventory of multifamily housing units. This report is intended to update a 2004 study and report regarding the capital needs of the entire multifamily portfolio. As CARH members recall this earlier report helped usher in the Multi-family Housing Preservation and Revitalization (MPR) demonstration program at RHS.         

According to the report, over the next 20 years, RHS's multifamily portfolio will have an estimated combined need for additional funding, over the current funding levels, of $5.6 billion to cover basic capital improvements, such as roofs, insulation, accessibility improvements, plumbing, and electrical and structural repairs to USDA-financed rental properties. In 2004, this number was $2.6 billion.  

The report also provides a framework for how RHS can more effectively collaborate with stakeholders, policymakers, partner and lawmakers to preserve affordable housing.

Please contact the CARH national office at [email protected] or 703-837-9001 should you have questions or concerns.    

Once a vacant school campus, Franklin School Apartments is a new rental community providing 20 affordable apartments and townhomes for families on Rice Lake's main commercial corridor. With Impact Seven at the helm of development, construction was complete in April 2016 and is now 90% occupied.  Sikes-Abernathie Architects and general contractor, Dave Cecil

	Franklin School Apartments

Builders, Inc. lead the design and construction teams.

"Developments this complex are sometimes difficult to keep on schedule, and we are very pleased the team delivered the project on time and budget," says Kristine Giornalista, Impact Seven's Vice President of Real Estate Development. "More importantly, we are excited that 20 more units of quality, affordable rental homes are available in the Rice Lake community."

The Rice Lake School Board originally constructed the building in 1936 as a six-room primary school. After more than eight decades of service, the Rice Lake School Board determined the building could no longer support modern educational needs and vacated the building. In 2013, Impact Seven proposed an adaptive reuse to safeguard the landmark and respond to the area's housing demand. Construction began in summer 2015 to convert the school building into 12 loft-style apartments and add 8 new townhomes.

Impact Seven is a member of WI-CARH. To learn more about becoming a member, please visit our website.

As housing developers well know, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has a litany of programs, provisions and notices designed to improve the availability of housing for low-income residents. Some programs hum along requiring little maintenance, some undergo major transformations regularly and some simply spin their wheels-often as a result of a gridlocked political process.

Sometimes, however, there are relatively simple changes needed that can result in big improvements. Such is the case with recent developments regarding how the Section (Sec.) 202 program could work with the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program, as well as a law that changes how Low Income Housing Preservation and Resident Homeownership Act (LIHPRHA) properties can be more beneficial to affordable housing developers.

 

Read the full article here.

 

By Brian Coate, Vice President, Lancaster Pollard

 

Lancaster Pollard is a member of WI-CARH. To learn more about becoming a member, please visit our website.